SuperSport (South African TV channel)

SuperSport
Channel logo as of July 2012
Launched	1988 as Sports segment on M-Net, 1995 as a single complete channel.
Owned by	Naspers
Picture format	576i (SDTV 16:9, 4:3) 1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	World of champions
Country	South Africa
Language	English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sotho and Zulu
Broadcast area	Africa
Affiliates	ESPN Sky Sports TEN Sports
Headquarters	Johannesburg, South Africa
Formerly called	M-Net SuperSport (1988 to 1994)
Website	www.supersport.com
Availability
Terrestrial
M-Net	M-Net (as a sports feed during important events)
CSN
Satellite
DStv	Channels 200 - 221
Streaming media
www.supersport.com	Live SuperSport Streaming online

SuperSport is a South African group of television channels owned by Multichoice and carried on the DStv satellite platform. It provides sports content in South Africa and abroad. It also provides sports coverage in many other African countries.

The channel broadcasts most of the major sporting events and leagues of association football, rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, motorsport, cycling, boxing, wrestling, athletics. It is the former world's biggest broadcaster of live rugby and cricket been overtaken by Sky Sports, and also the world's second biggestPremier League broadcaster, broadcasting matches live and, where possible, in HD through the Premier League's Content Service Sr.

Apart from its satellite channels, SuperSport also feeds content to M-Net, CSN and occasionally to M-Net HD.

Born in South Africa, executive Koos Bekker completed his MBA from Columbia University in 1984 and returned to his home country thereafter. During his studies, he had followed the rise of pay television in the United States, convinced that the model could work in South Africa.

Back in South Africa, Bekker convinced Nasionale Pers (now Naspers) of the idea and a consortium was formed with other media companies, including the defunct Perskor, the Argus Group (now Independent Media) and Johnnic Communications (now Avusa). The South African government was persuaded to award M-Net a broadcasting license, as Nasionale Pers's advertising revenue had shrunk dramatically since the launch of television in 1976. Naspers broadly supported the National Party's policies.

In 1986, M-Net was launched as South Africa's first pay-television channel and, along with Canal+, only the second outside of the United States. The channel immediately showed its intention to include sport in its programming lineup, by securing exclusive rights of an important Currie Cup match between Transvaal and Western Province for its first ever broadcast. From 1988, sports coverage on M-Net ran under the banner of M-Net SuperSport.